National Bank partners with Chamber of Commerce to promote SME

By Mike Omuodo

National Bank has announced a partnership with Kenya National Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KNCCI), which will help create value to the Bank’s small and medium enterprise customers, the Bank’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Munir Sheikh Ahmed has said.

Speaking when he presented a Ksh1million sponsorship cheque to the Chamber’s Chief Executive Officer Mr. Charles Mutuma Mbogori in support of the Chamber’s forthcoming Import & Export Conference and Expo scheduled for 25^th – 27^th September 2014 in Mombasa, Mr. Ahmed said National Bank has chosen to partner with KNCCI to show its commitment to nurture and foster the growth of Small and Medium enterprises in the country.

“The Chamber’s mission of playing a central and catalytic role in the growth of the Kenyan economy through entrepreneurial development resonates well with National Bank’s quest to be a leading promoter of the growth of enterprises in this country, the main objective for which the Bank was founded,” Mr. Ahmed said.

“Our participation in the conference provides an opportunity to not only showcase the Bank’s products and services to the Conference participants and exhibitors, but also position the Bank as a business centric Bank that has its hand on the pulse of the business community in the county,” Mr. Ahmed added.

In April this year, National Bank launched a business club as it sought to strengthen its foothold in the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector. Through the National Business Club, the bank intends to widen opportunities for its business customers by offering members such benefits as access to workshop trainings on entrepreneurship, networking opportunities, business advisory services and business trips to tap into new and emerging markets.

Receiving the cheque, Mr. Mbogori stressed on the need for product diversification in the export market through increased value addition, saying his organisation would help the SME to explore ways of tapping into emerging export markets.

“The idea is to mainstream their capacities, we know the bank can finance this initiative and we have the capacity to identify new markets, that way we will work together,” said Mr. Mbogori.

He said the objective of the Conference and Expo was to enhance the export capabilities of the SMEs and enhance opportunities in joint approach to international and regional trade among SMEs.